Two Accused in Cologne War Crimes Trial of Mass Murder of Jews in Grodno Ghetto

March 12, 1968

COLOGNE (Mar. 11)

Two wartime Nazis have gone on trial here on charges of multiple murders of Jews in occupied Grodno in Poland. One was Heinz Errelis, 53, former SS officer and head of the Nazi security service in Grodno. The other was Kurt Wiese, 53, another former SS officer who headed one of the two Grodno ghettoes from 1941 to 1943. Wiese was accused of the murder of Jews in 177 cases, and Errelis of participation in the murder of Jews in 27 cases. Each case can mean several killings.